Lusia Harris, the only woman drafted by an NBA team, died unexpectedly Tuesday at the age of 66 in Mississippi.
The cause of death for the record-setting basketball star was not given in a statement released by her family.
“We are deeply saddened to share the news that our angel, matriarch, sister, mother, grandmother, Olympic medalist, The Queen of Basketball, Lusia Harris has passed away,” her family said in a statement. “The recent months brought Ms. Harris great joy, including the news of the upcoming wedding of her youngest son and the outpouring of recognition received by a recent documentary that brought worldwide attention to her story.”
Harris set numerous records in college during the 1970s and was the first woman to score a basket during the Olympics. Some of her collegiate records set at Delta State University in Mississippi still stand nearly five decades later, according to the institution.
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The basketball player was drafted by the NBA’s New Orleans Jazz in 1977 as the seventh-round pick. She was pregnant at the time and turned down the opportunity. Harris said she didn’t regret her decision in The Queen of Basketball, a minidocumentary about her released in 2021 by the New York Times.
“I just thought it was a publicity stunt, and I felt like I didn’t think I was good enough,” she said in the film.
She did briefly play in the Women’s Professional Basketball League from 1979 to 1980, ESPN reported.
Another woman, Denise Long, was considered by the NBA’s San Francisco Warriors in 1969, but she was blocked for not meeting the criteria, including her gender, according to the NBA.
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Harris gained prominence during her time playing for Delta State. In 1976, while playing at Delta State, she represented the United States in the Olympics, and the U.S. team won a silver medal, according to the NBA.
The university said she still holds the institution’s career record in points (2,891) and rebounds (1,662) during the 115 games she played in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women from 1975 to 1977.
